Improvement in snap-hooks



E. J. STEELE.

SNAP-HOOK.

No. 185,980. Patented Jan. 2, 1877.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEFIoE.

ELBRIDGE J. STEELE, OF NEW BRITAIN, ASSIGNOR TO 0. B. NORTH & 00., OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN SNAP-HOOKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 185,980, dated January 2, 1877 application filed December 6, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELBRIDGE J. STEELE, of New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Snap-Hooks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be .a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a perspective view, looking from the rear; Fig. 2, a longitudinal central section.

This invention relates to an improvement in the article known to the trade as snaphooks, with special reference to an improvement in the hook for which Letters Patent of the United States were granted to E. A. Andrews, June 5, 1866. g

In that patent a spring is applied in rear of the pivot, between the body of the hook and the thumb-piece of the tongue. As the movement is very short compared with the opening end of the tongue, the spring has very little range, and, if made sufficiently strong to properly support the tongue, affords too great resistance to the thumb-pressure to make the hook a practical structure. Again, the spring is liable to be displaced, or be come set and useless.

To overcome these difficulties is the object of this invention; and it consists in the arran gement of a coiled spring around the pivot, one end of which turns back and bears upon the upper side of the recess in the bodyof the hook, the other end turned forward into a longitudinal recess in the tongue, whereby the spring has a lifting action to close the tongue.

A is the body, terminating at one end in the hook B, and at the other in the loop 0.

The body is constructed with a recess, D, on the rear side, opening through beneath the hook, but leaving the upper side in the rear of the hook closed. E is the tongue, arranged in the said recess, upon a pivot, a, with a projection, b, in rear of the pivot, to serve as a thumb-piece in turning the tongue upon the pivot. The tongue is formed with a recess, 6, in its upper surface, and around the pivot, the recess extending into the tongue to form a longitudinal cavity,f.

Around the pivot, and in the recess in the tongue, the spring is coiled, one end, n, extending to the rear, and bearing against the body of the hook, the other end, m, extending forward into the cavityf, and so as to lift or hold the tongue up against the point of the hook.

To open the tongue, the thumb is placed upon the thumb-piece b, and, pressing that into the recess, turns the tongue away, as indicated in broken lines, Fig. 2.

I claim In a snap-hook, the body terminating at one end in a hook, and at the other end in a loop, and constructed with a recess in the back of the body, and opening forward to the hook, combined with a tongue hung in the said recess, one end extending to the rear of the thumb-piece, the other forward, to close the mouth of the hook, and constructed with a recess around the pivot, extending forward to form a longitudinal cavity in the tongue, and a spring coiled around the pivot in the said recess, one end turned to the rear to bear upon the body of the hook, the other end forward into the cavity of the tongue, all substantially as described.

ELBRIDGE J. STEELE.

Witnesses:

H. O. NASH, HENRY NASH. 

